Tulsa @ South Florida preview

Tulsa at South Florida

Last Meeting ( Feb 15, 2020 ) Tulsa 56, South Florida 48

Tulsa's five-game winning streak includes a victory over then No. 5-ranked Houston and its first road triumph over Cincinnati in 53 years.

The Golden Hurricane (6-3, 3-1 American Athletic Conference) will look to continue their surge Wednesday when they travel to Tampa to take on South Florida (6-4, 2-2) in an AAC matchup.

Brandon Rachal, the AAC's Player of the Week and Tulsa's top scorer (15.7 points per game) and rebounder (7.7 per game), scored 20 points in Tulsa's 65-64 win over Houston and poured in 25 points against Cincinnati. He also delivered a pair of clutch free throws in the final seconds of each game.

"I take pride in free throws," Rachal said. "I feel like I am prepared every game to make free throws because of practice."

Along with Rachal, Elijah Joiner is among the leaders of Tulsa's experienced backcourt, averaging 8.8 points, 5.1 rebounds and 4.1 assists per game. But Rey Idowu (career-high-tying 16 points vs. Cincinnati) has given the Golden Hurricane a presence inside averaging 9.2 points and 4.7 rebounds and shooting 63.0 percent from the field.

"He was terrific," Tulsa coach Frank Haith said. "I've been waiting for one of these (games) for Rey, because he's been working so hard. ... He did a really, really good job."

The Bulls are coming off a win over UCF, which followed back-to-back losses by five points or fewer to Wichita State and Memphis.

Caleb Murphy (10.7 points, 2.5 rebounds, 3.4 assists per game), the AAC Freshman of the Week in consecutive weeks, is third on the Bulls in scoring and is among three Bulls averaging double figures in scoring.

David Collins (13.1 points, 4.3 rebounds, 4.0 assists, 1.7 steals) is shooting 44.4 percent from 3-point range, while Alexis Yetna (11.3 points, 7.8 rebounds per game) is shooting 41.2 percent from long distance.

A key for USF will be its own aggressiveness in the paint, which helped secure its win last week over UCF. Michael Durr leads the Bulls' frontcourt averaging 8.7 points and 8.0 rebounds per game.

"After two tough losses, one-possession games, you want to get back to the winning track and play well and finish it out," USF coach Brian Gregory said. "We lost to two really good teams ... but they were winnable teams if you do a couple of things."

--Field Level Media